Look At Me
by IAmTheMessenger
Summary: Severus Snape remembers the girl he loved in the last few minutes of his life. Read if you dare. Complete one-shot, T cause I'm paranoid


**I was re-reading the Prince's Tale and got inspired to write a quick Sev/Lily, I know it's not much but I hope you guys like it anyway! :) Read on…**

Everything is red.

He looks down at his shaking fingers, coated in his own scarlet blood, looks up into the crimson eyes of the Dark Lord, and feels himself slipping.

"I regret it."

The icy voice, saturated with lies, stabs him like a knife, like snake fangs, and with the swish of his robes, Lord Voldemort leaves his most faithful servant alone in the dingy room.

He feels his eyes closing as the venom penetrates his bloodstream, and begins to lose feeling in his fingertips and toes. The numbness encases his body like a tight-fitting glove, squeezing the life out of him as the seconds drip by.

Five…

_He's ten years old and glaring forcefully into the hard black eyes of his father. He feels pain across his face as hand collides with cheek, feels himself falling to the wooden floor. His practiced body absorbs the impact without thought, only a deep-rooted desire to strike back at the man whose foot is inches away from his stomach. Again and again he is kicked, and again and again he refrains from sound. He doesn't grunt, or cry, or scream for his father to stop. He shows no signs of weakness. When the beating is over he slowly rolls onto his side and takes a risky glance at the older man's face. Bloodshot, red eyes filled with tears stare blankly at the walls that enclose them. _

Four…

_He's on the playground standing hand in hand with a new, never-before experienced feeling and feeling the warmth of the sun for the first time. He senses his heart opening like the bright red flower petal in the hand of the girl before him, the girl who meets his gaze directly and without fear. Her eyes sparkle with the colors of Slytherin, and possibility enters his life for the first time. Even when the hat is placed on her head and she walks away from him and into the realm of red and gold, he never breaks his grip with the feeling he met on the playground, and they somehow wind up as…friends. The word is foreign to him at first, but she guides him with a courage and warmth that, at times, make him wish he could be a Gryffindor like her. _

Three…

_Her lips are ample, and soft-looking, and a deep rich red. How could something so beautiful hurt him so much? They open and close and frame words that cause him more agony than all of the blows from his father combined, and he doesn't understand why he let jealously get the best of him if this is the consequence. He wants to reach out to her, to touch her face, run his thumb over the narrow ribbon of skin between her nose and her mouth and tell her that he loves her more than anything, but her lips convince him otherwise. _

"_It's too late." _

_Three words that skewer him into pieces. He brings his gaze away from those exquisite lips to look into her eyes, but they only make the pain worse. Despite the hatred dripping from her voice, her eyes are wet, and he knows he should say something, anything, to help dry them out…the way she dried out his countless times in the past. He opens his mouth, the 'I love you' hanging off the tip of his tongue, but before he can say it she turns away. He wonders how she can't hear the hollow _crunch _of his heart breaking._

_If she had but turned around one last time, she would have seen him sink down against the wall, bury his head in his arms, and cry for love for the first time in his entire life. _

Two…

_He's in Dumbledore's office, huddled in a chair, shrunken and old. Dry sobs rack his aching body, sobs composed of regret, remorse, and an undying love that never had a chance to spread its wings. He doesn't want to believe that she's gone. She was his closest friend, had been there for him in his darkest hours, had stood up for him when others had backed down, and, despite their differences, had remained loyal until the end. _

_The end that he himself had foolishly caused. _

_He shudders and curses himself until his throat is red and raw and he can't speak above a whisper. _

_ "Her son lives."_

_He's had enough of three words. They've done nothing but hurt him. The 'I love you,' the 'it's too late,' and now, 'her son lives?' Dumbledore doesn't wait for him to respond. _

_ "He has her eyes-" The rest of the headmaster's words are drowned out by an anguished scream. _

_ What he wouldn't give to see those eyes one last time. He wants to rip his own heart out and put it in the body of Lily Evans, wants to go back in time to that fateful day that he wrecked their friendship, and catch her hand in his before she turned around and left him. He wants to take her tears between his fingers and grind them to dust so that she may see how much she means to him. He wants nothing more than to hold her in his arms and tell her that he's loved her his whole life. _

_ He catches a glimpse of himself in the Pensieve that resides on Dumbledore's desk, and for the first time in thirty years, the eyes that stare back at him aren't black. Despite the fallen drops that mill aimlessly around his sunken cheeks, despite the framing curtain of pitch-black hair, the eyes are _her _eyes, her perfect, clear green eyes, and…and…_

He's in the Shrieking Shack, returned to the present. He blinks, an action that requires an extreme amount of strength, and realizes that the eyes are still there.

One.

_Lily. _

_ How bad,_ he wonders, _can death be, if it means I get to see those eyes again? _

With deflated arms, he reaches out for the bright, iridescent orbs one last time. Flashes of memories, peals of laughter, red flowers and clasped hands flow from his body in rivers of silvery viscous.

"Look…at…me…"

As his last seconds expire, Severus Snape gazes into the eyes of Lily Evans and sees forgiveness. He feels no pain as he leaves one world and enters the next, holding onto those two green globes with his black ones, because he knows that she'll be there on the other side, in absolution and red hair, with open arms ready and waiting.

**Okay, that was pretty short but I hope you liked it. Reviews make my day, so if you've got a minute to spare, I would really appreciate hearing feedback! It really helps. Also if you have any other one-shot ideas, I'd love to hear them. Thanks for reading! **


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